- Put on your tinfoil hats; things are about to get strange.
Most conspiracy theories are… Well, they’re a little out there. Yet, the most popular ones make enough sense or are based sufficiently on facts that they prove shockingly persistent.
But then there are those theories that are too bizarre for even the most dedicated tinfoil hat-wearing weirdos to believe. Whether they lack reliable evidence or are just way too convoluted, some conspiracies are simply too far gone for anyone to take them seriously.
Here are eight examples of conspiracy theories that are simply too odd to catch on. That doesn’t mean no one at all believes in them, but they certainly haven’t made it to the conspiratorial mainstream.
1. Denver Airport’s Underground Empire
The Denver International Airport is (in)famous for its experimental architecture, apocalyptic murals, and extensive tunnel system. According to this theory, these are all obvious signs of the airport acting as the headquarters of a race of lizard people aiming for world domination.
The theory about an underground empire beneath the airport hasn’t really caught on due to a lack of credible evidence. We know who designed the buildings, and the artist behind the striking murals has explained his creative process.
And those tunnels? They’re for transporting luggage. The airport is even converting some of them into walkways, so you can soon go see for yourself what’s down there.
2. Paul Is Dead
Did you know that Paul McCartney of The Beatles fame died in a car accident in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike? If you didn’t, that’s okay, because it didn’t really happen.
This theory cropped up in 1969 on U.S. college campuses. Some hippies didn’t believe that Paul on the cover of The Beatles’ albums following their move to a more psychedelic sound and look was the same person as before.
According to the theorists, the British government and the MI5 spy agency replaced Paul with another person to prevent people from falling out of love with The Beatles. They included subtle hints about the change on album covers but didn’t go public with it.
Of course, the big question here is, “Why?” If the British government really wanted to cover up Paul’s death, why would they give people cryptic clues about the change?
3. The Moon Is a Hoax
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s not real. There is no moon; instead, that big yellow circle in the night sky is a hologram.
According to the fake moon theory, the moon simply doesn’t exist and is a projection that someone is putting up to maintain control of humanity. The proponents have suggested the moon’s varying size in the sky as proof, as well as the lack of the moon’s physical shadow on Earth.
In reality, the moon’s size variation is easily explained through basic atmospheric optics. And the moon does occasionally cast a shadow on Earth. That’s called an eclipse.
How would projecting a fake moon in the sky help control humanity anyway?
4. Phantom Time Hypothesis
There’s a period of human history that never existed. The years 614–911 CE didn’t take place, and world leaders agreed to skip from 613 to 912 to move humanity closer to the year 1000.
You might already be coming up with some pointed questions about this theory. To begin with, how would these people explain all the archeological evidence from that roughly 300-year period?
What’s more, this theory only accounts for the Julian calendar used in Western Europe. Cultures around the globe, from China to the Islamic world, had their own calendar systems, and those don’t have any missing time.
But hey, maybe the ancient kings, emperors, and whatnot somehow managed to perfectly coordinate this whole thing in an era when just sending a letter was an ordeal.
5. The Tartarian Empire
The Tartarian Empire is supposedly a massive, nearly planet-spanning ancient empire that once ruled the world. It was incredibly advanced, having things like unlimited wireless electricity at a time when the most sophisticated invention elsewhere was a horse-drawn wagon.
However, the empire was lost in a global mud flood that happened… For some reason. Ever since, the world’s governments have been hellbent on erasing all evidence that the empire existed. According to this theory, both World Wars, for example, were waged partially to bomb away the remnants of Tartaria.
This bizarre theory stems from misinterpreted ancient maps that show a place called “Tartary” in Asia. That was simply an overall term for the poorly known eastern lands, much like the ancient Greeks called anything north of Germany “Hyperborea.”
6. Titanic Switch Theory
The Titanic didn’t sink in 1912. Instead, the vessel that went down was its sister ship, RMS Olympic, and their owner, White Star Lines, secretly mixed up their names.
But why? To commit insurance fraud, of course.
This theory posits that White Star Lines organized a huge cover-up operation to make it look like the more valuable Titanic had sunk instead. With that, the company could claim a bigger insurance payout from the disaster.
Of course, the Titanic Switch Theory predates the discovery of the Titanic’s wreck, which proves pretty conclusively that the ship really did sink. What’s more, the level of manipulation, bribery, and deceit to make the fraud work would be so incomprehensibly complex that there’s simply no way it would fly.
7. Germany Is a Corporation
Germany is, in fact, not a country. Instead, it’s a gigantic corporation run like any other company, and its national IDs are in reality employee numbers.
At least that’s what the German Corporation Theory states. Supposedly, when West and East Germany reunited on October 3, 1990, they didn’t do so as a new country but as a sprawling business corporation.
Once again, you can’t help but ask why. There is simply no evidence to show that Germany is not a state like any other, which has kept this theory firmly within German borders (and even there, it’s not common).
8. Saturn-Moon Matrix
In 2010, British arch-conspiracy theorist David Icke dropped a real bomb. He went public with a terrible secret: humanity lives in a simulated reality projected into our minds from Saturn, with the signal being amplified through the moon.
Who’s behind this nefarious plot, you ask? Why, it’s our old friends, the world-controlling reptilian aliens, of course!
Basically, according to Icke, we all live in the Matrix, but it’s not even a cool computer simulation. It’s an interplanetary radio program sent with such poor technology that it needs an amplifier on the way to work.
At least Icke has some hard evidence to support his strange idea. Oh, wait, he doesn’t.
In his own words, he was working on his computer one day when he was suddenly overcome with an “overwhelming feeling out of ‘nowhere’ that the moon was not ‘real.’”
Sure, I’ll buy it.
People really are ready to believe the strangest things. Check out our list of 8 bizarre conspiracy theories about Antarctica for more!